An Accident
by OliveInk
Summary: It wasn't intentional; in fact it was a complete accident. An accident started off by a chance encounter at a noisy party in a busy club. ShikaxTenten. Rated for language.
1. An accidental encounter

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

-okay, so I know that I should be finishing the other stories I have instead of starting a new one but this story got stuck in my head so now I have to write it. Sorry. The story starts out a little slow because I have to set the tone and everything, but I'm hoping it will pick up speed as the story develops.

...

It wasn't intentional; in fact it was a complete accident. An accident started off by a chance encounter at a noisy party in a busy club.

...

The club music blasted out of the speakers, bringing the room to life with its pulsating beat and commanding the people to dance. Neon lights flashed across the room giving it the air of something dangerous and unreal. Out on the dance floor people bumped and ground against each other in a mass of swaying bodies; the party was in full swing and all but a few people were enjoying it. Of those people was one young woman who sat alone at the bar.

Her auburn brown hair fell to the small of her back in a cascade of waves and curls while her bangs framed her heart-shaped face. Her gold-brown eyes were rimed with black and shaded by long black eyelashes. She wore a fishnet top with a forest green halter and black washed jeans that showed of the slender shape of her legs. A margarita glass was poised at her rose-red lips as she surveyed the crowd.

It was a special party, planned for Tsunade's star apprentice: Haruno Sakura. Having just turned twenty-one she had been especially excited to go to a club for her birthday so her closest friends, Hyuga Hinata, Yamanaka Ino, and Tenten, had rented one out as a joined birthday present.

Tenten couldn't be happier for her friend, but as she took a long sip of her margarita she had to admit that she was considerably jealous. Sakura was smart, determined, and kind, she was the apprentice of Tenten's hero, and she had the attention of Hyuga Neji; the very same cold-hearted prodigy that Tenten had unwittingly fallen in love with. So it was because of this, and the fact that each of her friends had a boyfriend to dance with, that she was currently sitting alone at the bar finishing off her second margarita.

"My youthful flower you cannot sit here alone on such a glorious occasion!" Tenten nearly dropped her margarita in surprise and cursed herself for not having sensed her teammate's approach earlier.

"Lee, I'm fine here. I just didn't get enough sleep last night so I'm not quite up to dancing right now." Lee gave her a scrutinizing stare. Though most believed Rock Lee to be thoroughly oblivious to everything he was actually quite perceptive, it was therefore very obvious to him that his best friend was lying through her teeth.

"Nonsense!" he boomed, "You will waste your precious youth sitting here alone! Now, seeing as I surely cannot allow our team's beautiful flower to waste her youth I must request a dance!"

"Lee, we aren't a team anymore, and I'm hardly a flower." Nevertheless Tenten allowed Lee to pull her towards the giant mass of people crowding on the dance floor. Her gloomy mood temporarily forgotten she laughed as Lee spun about the dance floor, knocking into eleven different people in the process.

After making it through four very chaotic dances Tenten excused herself from Lee and stumbled over to the rows of couches lined up in one of the dark corners of the club. Most of the couches were taken by couples who were completely engrossed in each other (and probably a little drunk as well), but she managed to find a couch occupied by only one other person and proceeded to collapse.

"You seem tired." Tenten turned and found herself staring at her friend Ino's boyfriend, Nara Shikamaru. She smiled a wiped a hand across her forehead.

"I think I've discovered a new form of training: dancing with Lee." Shikamaru smirked and reached for his glass, tossing back a shot of tequila. Tenten stared, 1. because she'd never seen Shikamaru drink, and 2. because she'd never been close enough to Shikamaru to realize that he was actually very good looking.

_'CUT THAT OUT!'_ she thought to herself. _'This is Ino's boyfriend you're thinking about for god's sake! I've obviously had way too much to drink!' _She was brought out of her reverie by a hand waving in her face.

"WOAH! Uh, I'm sorry, what did you say Shikamaru-san?" He stared at her a second before shaking his head and muttering a quiet "troublesome."

He'd never noticed before, but Tenten was actually very cute. Her gold-brown eyes sparkled and a light pink blush spread across her cheeks and nose. He shook his head and looked back out at the crowd.

"I know you didn't just call me troublesome, right Shikamaru?" He glanced back at her, taken aback by the sudden venom in her tone. "Because that would be incredibly rude, you know." She scowled at him.

"Sorry, force of habit." She glared at him a little longer before grumbling and turning away.

"So why aren't you dancing with Ino?" she asked, her tone considerably less annoyed. Shikamaru groaned and shrugged.

"She doesn't need me to dance with her; she's already danced with six other guys." Tenten frowned.

"She likes to dance, that's all. Just go ask her to dance with you; I know she'd be happy if you did." It was true that Ino was a terrible flirt, and even though she was with Shikamaru she was known to flirt with other guys, however Tenten couldn't help but defend her friend.

"Why bother? Whenever I try to do something like that with her she criticizes me, troublesome woman. It's such a drag."

"Well you're never going to get anywhere with that attitude! You can't sit here and do nothing and expect everything to go your way!" Shikamaru turned to her angrily.

"Like you're one to talk! Everyone in Konoha knows that you like Neji, but you just sat back and let Sakura get him. If you had spoken up even once it would probably be you out there dancing with him instead of her!" Tenten recoiled as though he'd slapped her. Her skin flushed again, but this time it had nothing to do with embarrassment or alcohol.

"Shut up! You know nothing about my situation with Neji! You think you're so damn smart but you don't even realize that you're losing your own girlfriend because you're too lazy to try and..." but she never got to finish that sentence because Shikamaru had suddenly shot forward and pressed his lips against hers. He pulled back and they stared at each other for a few seconds before they were kissing again.

'_What the hell am I doing? This is Ino's boyfriend I'm kissing! If she finds out about this she'll never forgive me!'_ However she didn't pull back. Even as Shikamaru deepened their kiss, sliding his tongue in to meet hers she didn't pull away. It wasn't until a little later when they pulled apart for air that Tenten felt reality come crashing back down on her. She jumped up from her seat, muttered a quick "sorry," and ran off back into the crowd.

Shikamaru sat there staring at the spot where she'd vanished. He combed a shaky hand through his hair and let out a heavy sigh.

"Damn, I actually enjoyed that."

...

Later that night, after the party had ended, Tenten sat at home in her tiny apartment polishing of a bottle of vodka.

"Oh god, I'm such an idiot! I can't believe I just did that! Ino is going to kill me; we'll probably never be friends again!" She took another swig from the vodka bottle, "But it's not like she's been exactly loyal to him. Hell, I can cite at least two...three...two times she's cheated on him! ...And he's cute...fuck." She raised the bottle back to her lips and was about to take another drink when she looked down at the bottle; it was half empty.

"Heh, half empty or half full? Oh god, I've had way too much to drink." She closed the bottle and stumbled off to her bedroom to collapse on top to the covers.

...

She woke up the next morning to a loud knock on the door. Bleary eyed she stumbled out of her room and towards the door. Half expecting to find a furious Ino at the door she was surprised to find instead a cheery Lee.

"Ugg, Lee, can you turn down your smile? The shine is killing me right now." She let him in and went off to make a large cup of coffee.

"My dear flower, what has happened to your youth? You look sick!" Tenten groaned as her head throbbed painfully.

"I think I partied a little too hard last night, I can't really remember..." It wasn't a complete lie, after her kiss with Shikamaru she'd retreated to the bar, ordered another drink, and after that she couldn't remember anything. Lee nodded sympathetically.

"You go take a cold shower to wake up and I'll make you some coffee and breakfast. Do you think you can hold anything down?" Tenten smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, thanks Lee. I don't know what I'd do without you!" With that she stumbled towards the bathroom hoping to clear the fog in her head.

One ice cold shower later she was sitting at the table with a large cup of coffee and a plate of toast.

"So what brings you here this early, Lee?" She asked him between bites of toast.

"You have a mission today, and I thought you might need some time to get ready." He scrutinized her carefully for a second and Tenten wondered if he knew what had happened last night. However a second later he smiled and Tenten let out an unconscious sigh of relief. If he knew what had happened he wasn't going to tell.

"Thanks Lee, do you know what this mission is about?"

"Not really, all I know is that you're going to the Sunagakure (sp?)."

"Ugg, I hate crossing the desert! Alright, I should probably get going so I'm not late. Bye Lee, thanks for breakfast!" She grabbed her mission bag and set off towards Hokage Tower. She didn't see Lee's worried look as she took off out the door.

...

"I'm sorry if I'm late Hokage-sama!" Tenten called as she came in the door.

"Not to worry Tenten, you're just on time. I'm just about to start the mission briefing." Tenten glanced around the room and her breath caught in her throat. There in the corner was her partner for the mission: Nara Shikamaru.

...

A/N: so, what do you think? I know I left it on a cliff hanger, which is bad because I'm an awful updater but it's summer and I'm here for a while so it should be okay. Tell me what you think because I really need some feedback on this. It should be a lot more dramatic in the upcoming chapters. I'd really appreciate reviews (especially constructive criticism) and if you plan on sending a flame, the only thing I can say is at least have the guts to send a flame with your penname and not just anonymously. Thanks for reading!!


	2. Sandstorm

Disclaimer: Like I said last chapter I don't own Naruto… I think I said it twice actually…

A/N: So thanks for the reviews. It's really nice because I wasn't expecting many because this is such an odd pairing. I like it though, so thanks for all your support. This chapter is dedicated to the people who reviewed: Starlitsapphire, woohoo, nejitenfan, and glass-pencil. Now without further ado, on with the story!

……………

'_Kami, what did I do to deserve this? Why is this happening to me? Is this punishment for kissing him back?' _Tenten could barely concentrate on what Tsunade-sama was telling her as she struggled with her thoughts.

"So obviously this scroll is of the utmost importance. If this were to fall into enemy hands both Sunagakure and Konoha would be at risk for high damage attacks. Shikamaru, you will be in charge of this mission. This is an A rank mission due to the nature of the scroll, it is very likely that you will come under heavy attack." Tenten snapped to attention just as Tsunade-sama finished the mission briefing and cursed herself for allowing Shikamaru to affect her concentration.

"Considering the fact that this scroll has the plans for Konoha and Suna's new military treaty wouldn't it make more sense to send more than just Tenten-san and I? We aren't just at risk from enemy countries, but also missing nin, akatsuki, and Orochimaru." Shikamaru was not happy with this mission. Not only would they be crossing the desert, a troublesome enough job under normal circumstances, but they would also have to be on high alert the entire time. '_What a drag'._

"I understand your concern Shikamaru, but as of now we don't have any reason to believe that anyone else knows about these plans. Sending more nin would only draw attention to the mission and lead to suspicion about what could be so important as to require a vast number of anbu protecting it." Shikamaru grumbled but knew that Tsunade-sama was right. At this point the best thing they could do would be to keep a low profile on this mission. Just then Tenten spoke up for the first time since she'd arrived and Shikamaru's attention was drawn to her.

"When must we leave?" Tenten asked, her attention now fully focused on the mission. Like her, Shikamaru had obviously not forgotten about the kiss the night before. He couldn't help but notice the way she bit her full bottom lip when she was concentrating or the way her hair seemed to be made up of not just brown, but also red, black, and gold. He had the overwhelming urge to pull it out of those restricting buns but banished the thought as quickly as it had come.

"You'll be leaving immediately. You have a half hour to get yourselves ready. I suggest you pack some warm clothes; it gets very cold at night. This mission should take you about a week to 

complete but I'll give you two weeks in case of complications. Any questions?" Neither Shikamaru nor Tenten spoke up, "Good. Dismissed."

The two left the office and parted ways to pack, both wondering how they would make it two weeks with each other and how they would be able to focus on the mission when they could barely face each other.

……………

Tenten and Shikamaru met at the gate out of Konoha and left without saying a word to each other. The tension between them built as Tenten fell back to follow Shikamaru's lead.

After an hour Tenten couldn't stand the silence anymore and decided something had to be done. Taking a deep breath she sped up so that she was next to Shikamaru.

"Listen, we need to talk. We can't keep going and avoid this forever, it will hinder the mission." She didn't look over at him, but she felt Shikamaru nod beside her so she continued. "The fact of the matter is that we were both drinking last night and we weren't really thinking straight. It was an accident, pure and simple, so we should both just forget it happened."

Shikamaru wasn't sure why but he felt angry that she was just passing it off as having too much to drink. He couldn't deny that he had enjoyed that kiss, and he was pretty sure that Tenten enjoyed it too, judging from her reaction.

"Whether we had too much to drink or not is not the issue. I personally don't think that alcohol is all that caused that kiss." Tenten glanced over at him annoyed. '_Why can't he just accept it as a drunken mistake and move on? It would make everything a lot easier for us.' _

"I guess not…" she responded slowly, "I mean we were both upset too. You were upset that Ino-chan was dancing with other guys and I…" It was hard for her to admit it but for the sake of the mission she pushed through her embarrassment, "and I was jealous of Neji-kun and Sakura-chan."

Shikamaru shook his head. He was annoyed that she kept trying to avoid the real problem. The only reason that kiss was really awkward for them was because they had both enjoyed it. If it was really a drunken mistake neither of them would really be obsessing over it. Shikamaru sighed.

"Tenten-san, the problem isn't that we kissed, it's that we liked that kiss." Tenten's head shot around to look at him. Abruptly she dropped down from the tree branches they'd been running on and landed on the soft grass. Shikamaru dropped down right after her and stared at her. She was furious.

"How dare you?! I would never betray Ino-chan like that! Never! She's one of my best friends and, unless you forgot, you're her boyfriend!"

"That's why this is such a problem for us. Just because Ino is one of your best friends doesn't mean you didn't like that kiss. It does however mean you feel guilty about it and that's why things are so awkward between us." Tenten stared at him in disbelief.

"THE REASON THINGS ARE AWKWARD BETWEEN US IS BECAUSE YOU KISSED ME! This wouldn't be a problem if you had just controlled yourself a little!" Shikamaru was now just as mad as her.

"Don't blame this all on me! You kissed me back; you're just as guilty of this as I am!" Tenten took a threatening step forward but Shikamaru didn't back down.

"You…I…you kissed me first! I told you, I was drunk and upset! The only reason I kissed you back is because I was surprised!" Now it was Shikamaru's turn to step forward, his temper getting the better of him.

"That's bull shit and you know it! Just face it, we both liked that kiss and now we don't know what to do because we both have to deal with Ino."

"That's what this is about isn't it! All this crap about me liking that kiss is just to make Ino jealous, isn't it?!" Shikamaru blinked at her in surprise, her accusation effectively cutting away his anger.

"No Tenten that's not…"

"No, I get it; you don't have to explain it to me! You were upset about Ino ignoring you and flirting with other guys so you figured you needed to get her jealous. Then you saw me, the one person out of Ino's friends who was all alone and you figured I'd be an easy mark because I was the only on without a boyfriend." Shikamaru was now thoroughly startled. He knew that if he didn't do something quick Tenten was going to think she was right and then it would be impossible to talk to her.

"Tenten wait, you've got it wrong…"

"No Shikamaru-san I've got it right." Her tone was suddenly cold and detached. "I would appreciate it if for the rest of the mission you would leave me alone unless it's directly related to the mission." She turned on her heal and took off back into the tree tops. Shikamaru groaned.

'_Troublesome woman! Why is it that women never listen? They always jump to the worst possible conclusion and then they won't listen to reason even though they're wrong!'_

…………

The next two days passed quietly. The tension between Tenten and Shikamaru made it impossible for Shikamaru to say anything to her besides orders regarding the mission. By the end 

of the first day Shikamaru decided it wasn't worth the effort to try to explain to Tenten that she was wrong when it was obvious she wouldn't listen to him.

They made it to the desert with no other problems and no attacks. As they set up camp in silence Shikamaru noticed what looked like a huge dark cloud in the distance.

"That can't be good." He muttered to himself. Turning to where Tenten was setting up her tent he called out, "It looks like a sand storm is coming, it might be hard to keep the tents grounded in the shifting sand." Tenten looked out where he was pointing and cursed.

'_Just add that to the list of things that haven't been going well for me this week.'_ Turning back to where Shikamaru was she shrugged.

"There's nothing we can do about it. We'll just have to set up our tents and hope they stay put."

…………

Night had fallen and the temperature along with it. The wind howled outside Tenten's tent, pelting it with sand. Tenten found it impossible to sleep as she sat huddled in her sleeping bag. Even with a heavy sweater, her fuzzy sweat pants and her thick sleeping bag she was freezing.

Just then she heard a loud ripping sound. The next thing she knew her tent had been ripped apart and she was surrounded in a whirlwind of sand. Panic gripped her as she struggled to get free of her sleeping bag. The sand stung her eyes and scraped her skin. Choking she tried to cover her mouth so she could breathe.

She couldn't get a decent breath of air as the sand slipped between her fingers and pelted her face. Suddenly she felt a light cloth being held over her mouth. Reeling in shock she thrashed out, hitting someone in the stomach. She heard a grunt and struggled away from her attacker. Squinting she peered into the darkness, trying to see who was trying to hurt her.

"Kami Tenten, what was that for?" Shikamaru's voice came out of the darkness. "I was just trying to help you breath!" Tenten gasped in relief breathing in a mouthful of sand. She coughed.

"Shi-Shikamaru, I…I can't see you." The world was beginning to spin around her as she stumbled to where she thought he was. She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder and allowed Shikamaru to pull her face into his chest.

"Breathe slowly. Not too fast. There, that's good. I heard your tent rip, I'm going to take you back to mine." He led her towards his tent and zipped the flap up quickly. Tenten blinked, rubbing the sand out of her eyes, and took slow deep breaths. If Shikamaru hadn't shown up she was sure she would have suffocated out there.

Shikamaru meanwhile was only just calming down. He'd been awake, just as Tenten had been, listening to the storm raging outside when he heard her tent rip. Knowing that there was no way 

she'd be able to make it to his tent he'd grabbed a cloth bandage to breathe through and went out to find her.

Now, watching her shiver on the ground inside his tent he wasn't exactly sure what to do. Her sleeping bag and things were still outside and it was too dangerous to go out in the dark and try and find them. If he didn't do something, however, Tenten could easily freeze with the cold desert air. He groaned. There was nothing else he could do, they would have to share his sleeping bag. He walked over to her and knelt down, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Listen Tenten, we're going to have to share my sleeping bag. It's too cold out here." Tenten would have protested but her teeth were chattering too much and she was afraid she'd bite her tongue. Instead she let him guide her over to his sleeping bag and slid in after him. Despite her annoyance with him she had to admit he was very warm. Soon she was fast asleep, her head snuggled into the crook of his neck.

Shikamaru stayed up a little after her. Looking down at her as she curled against his side.

"Oh Kami I'm in trouble. What the hell am I doing?" shaking his head he let himself relax and fall asleep, his arms wrapping around Tenten's waist.

…………

A/N: So, yeah, that's the next chapter. I had this ridiculously cute image of Tenten and Shikamaru snuggling together so I had to write this. Just to clarify, they left on Sunday and it's been three days so now it's Wednesday. Please REVIEW, your reviews keep me going and do, in fact, make me update sooner because I feel guilty about making you wait. Thanks!


	3. Stop the awkwardness!

Disclaimer: don't own Naruto blahblahblah…never will own Naruto blahblahblah…you get the idea.

A/N: LOOK MA I'M UPDATING!! So I've decided to update this story because…well…I've got time…yeah. I don't actually have access to the internet right now so I don't know who reviewed (if anyone) but if you did you're awesome and you all get…A NEW CAR!! Yeah…no. I'm not rich like Oprah so you can get cookies instead. So in the last chapter things were heating up…kind of…a little. I'm hoping this story won't be too long (so I have the momentum to finish it) so things should progress quickly…YAY!! Alright, on with the story…

……………

Tenten woke feeling distinctly warm and comfortable. A little groggy and in no mood to fully wake up she snuggled closer to the source of warmth. Her calm was disturbed a few seconds later, however, by a drowsy voice right beside her.

"Tenten? What time is it?" Tenten nearly jumped out of the sleeping bag in surprise, taking a second to remind herself where she was and what had happened the night before.

Shifting slightly she looked up to study the sleepy boy beside her. Shikamaru's hair was down and a mess, there was a mark on his cheek from where he'd been resting his head on hers, and dark circles rung his bleary eyes. Sleepy Shikamaru, Tenten decided, was much more endearing than awake Shikamaru. Suppressing a giggle at his appearance she struggled to free herself from their current position and focus her attention back on the mission. It was proving harder than she thought with his warmth all around her.

"I don't know," she responded once she'd stumbled free of the sleeping bag, "but it's bright out so it's probably later than when we should have been up." She unzipped the tent and was greeted by the deserts usual heat, the cold long since driven away now that the sun was out. She turned back to see Shikamaru stretching, his body all lean muscle. Tenten turned away to hide the blush staining her cheeks.

"We need to find your things. Hopefully they weren't buried too much." Shikamaru suppressed the groan building up at the thought of searching through the sand. This would put them behind his schedule and meant more time spent in the treacherous desert. "If we're quick we should be able to make it to Suna before nightfall and stay the night there."

Tenten nodded, discarding her sweater and heading out to begin searching.

……………

Two hours later both Shikamaru and Tenten were at the ends of their tempers. They had finally managed to unearth all of Tenten's gear and were on their way towards Sunagakure once again.

To add to their annoyance it seemed that the sand storm had shifted the sand, so now they were forced to climb over towering dunes and the crumbling sand was proving very hard to get over. They made the trip in silence.

At last they arrived at the gates of Sunagakure. The sun was just beginning to set as they were brought into the Kazekage's office; Gaara's cool stare greeted them. Shikamaru gave him the scroll containing the new plans and he briefly glanced over them before nodding.

"Good. I'm impressed you made it so quickly with the sand storm. Lien-san will show you to your rooms for the night." He dismissed them and Tenten, glancing back over her shoulder as she left, was surprised by the air of contentment around him.

The girl, Lien, was waiting for them outside the door. She smiled softly at them before turning and leading them down the hallway. She was very small; both short and thin, and looked too delicate with her pale skin to live in Suna. Her long black hair swung as she turned yet another corner, leading them further into the enormous building.

Tenten thoughts drifted back to the changes in Gaara she'd seen earlier; he seemed much happier since the last time she'd seen him when Naruto and the old healer lady brought him back to life. It made her happy to think that maybe life was better for him now.

She wasn't paying attention as Lien came to an abrupt stop and knocked right into her. In an instant Shikamaru had caught them both. Tenten blushed bright red, turning her head to avoid looking at him.

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." She bit out, her gaze trained on the floor.

Lien smiled encouragingly but Shikamaru simply let go of her arm and turned away. He'd never admit it but he'd actually enjoyed being able to rescue her. Lien turned back to the door and unlocked it, hiding a knowing smile.

As she stepped aside to let the ninja by Shikamaru couldn't help but feel pierced by her ice-blue eyes. Trying to shake his uneasy feeling he jumped as she addressed him in a quiet whisper.

"She's better for you than the one you have now. Sometimes the things that are more troublesome are the ones that are really worthwhile." That said she turned and left, disappearing as she rounded a corner. Shikamaru shook his head and entered the room. _'Why are all women troublesome? What was that she said about troublesome things being worthwhile? Easy for her to say; what a drag.'_

The room Shikamaru and Tenten had been given was small, only enough room for the two beds and a small chest of drawers. A door on the left side of the room led to an even smaller bathroom with just a toilet, sink, and shower.  


Shikamaru really wanted a shower after trekking through the sand, but the sound of running water told him Tenten was already in there. She wasn't long, and when she came out he couldn't help but stare, a light pink blush rising across his cheeks and nose.

She was completely naked save for a large fluffy towel wrapped securely around her. Her hair was down, for once, and appeared almost black from the water. Shikamaru forced himself to look away from her long, tan legs (he'd always secretly had a thing for nice legs) and hurried into the bathroom for his shower.

Tenten didn't notice his staring or his blush as she was already searching through her bag for lighter sleeping clothes then the ones she'd worn last night. She was very grateful that this building had heating and was only vaguely aware of Shikamaru rushing into the bathroom. Pulling on an over-large t-shirt and a pair of very short shorts she climbed into one of the beds.

Shikamaru came out of the bathroom in a pair of shorts and glanced over to where Tenten was curled up in one of the beds, already fast asleep. He allowed himself a small smile at how innocent she looked, curled up in a little ball, before he climbed into bed himself and went to sleep. The last thing he thought as he drifted off was of the strange girl and her even stranger words.

……………

"MORNING!!" Both Shikamaru and Tenten shot out of bed in shock. Shikamaru blinked wearily up at the bright ball of sunshine that had interrupted his sleep.

"Temari? What the hell are you doing waking us up at this hour? Kami, it's still dark out!" Temari's grin widened, if that was even possible.

"Aww, poor little Shika-kun! He's always so grumpy in the morning!" Temari then turned to Tenten. "Tennie-chan!! I haven't seen you in forever!" She leaned in close as though sharing a secret, "So, got yourself a boyfriend yet?" She looked pointedly over at Shikamaru.

Tenten groaned, she had forgotten that a trip to Suna meant time spent with Temari. Tenten didn't have anything against the sand kunoichi, in fact she really liked her, the problem was that Temari loved nothing more than irritating her friends to see how they'd react. Ruefully Tenten realized she should have seen this early wake-up call coming.

"Ohayo Temari-san. Uh, no, not yet." Tenten responded politely.

"No reason to be so polite with me, Tennie-chan! We're friends, right?" Temari's devious grin never once left her face.

"Of course we are Tem…" Temari cut her off.

"Then as friends we need some serious girl time to catch up on things! I knew you two would be leaving as soon as you got up so I decided to wake you up earlier to spend some time with you! Oh, sorry Shika-kun, you're going to have to put up with Kankuro." She sent him an evil grin, "And don't even think of going back to sleep! That wouldn't be fair to Tennie-chan!"

Grabbing Tenten's arm Temari literally dragged the poor girl from the room. Shikamaru sent her a pitying glance before slumping back on his bed, fully ready to ignore Temari's warning.

"Hey, none of that!" Shikamaru opened one eye lazily to look up at Temari's other brother, Kankuro. "Look, Temari made me promise to keep you awake, and you don't want to know what she does to people who break their promises!" Shikamaru sighed and sat up.

"Alright, what exactly are we going to do?"

"Uh…."

……………..

Meanwhile Temari had dragged Tenten all the way back to her room.

"Okay, so spill, I know I felt some chemistry between you and Shikamaru! Give me all the details." She sat in the middle of her bed, legs folded underneath her, and examined Tenten with her chin in her hand.

"How could you have felt any chemistry, we were asleep! Seriously Temari-san, you're over-analyzing things again." Temari glared at her.

"Just Temari, and I'm not overanalyzing anything! You like him, don't deny it!"

"I…" Tenten faltered. _'How does she do that? I'm not even sure I like him, and she's already sure of it?!'_ "…maybe, I don't know! It's all mixed up! I do like him, I mean he's smart, funny, attractive, a little lazy but that's not so bad, what's not to like?"

"So there, no problem, just tell him how you feel."

"I can't do that!" Tenten moaned, "He's dating Ino-chan, and she's one of my best friends! How am I supposed to explain this to her? 'Sorry Ino-chan, I'm stealing your boyfriend 'cause I find him attractive?'" Tenten let her head fall into her hands. "I absolutely can NOT start anything with him, I'd be the worst best friend ever!" Temari shook her head disappointedly.

"Screw Ino, you like him, go get him. It's as easy as that. I never really liked Ino, she's too flirty, she can't be any good for him."

"Ino's a good person! She just has a habit of flirting with guys. She can't help it, it's just the way she is!" Tenten defended automatically.

"Look, if she's flirting with other guys than she doesn't deserve him, plain and simple. Now stop acting like a baby and confront this issue, are you a kunoichi or aren't you?"

…………..

"It's just really tense now. It's a real pain." Shikamaru couldn't believe he was venting his issues with Tenten to Temari's brother, but if he kept it bottled inside any longer he thought he'd explode.

"Wow, that's tough man. But hey, just seduce Tenten and keep dating Ino, no problem!" Kankuro grinned maniacally. Shikamaru shook his head. _'Is he an idiot? Cheat on Ino with Tenten? First Tenten would kill me for trying to seduce her, then Ino would kill me because Tenten would tell her! It's like asking for a death sentence!'_

"No, they're both good fighters with really bid tempers, it's too troublesome to get in between them."

"Well, I wish I could help you out. I'd love to go out with Tenten, but I know she's not into me."

"How do you know that?"

"I asked her out while Temari was dragging her off. They both looked at me like I was insane. Great to have support from your sister, right?" Shikamaru chuckled softly. Just then he remembered something.

"Oh right! Kankuro, who's that girl Lien? She said something really weird to me last night."

"Lien? She's Gaara's fiancé. A real odd-ball that one. She doesn't say much, but when she does it's like she knows what you're thinking. It's really creepy!" Kankuro mock shuddered to prove his point.

"Gaara's fiancé? He's getting married?" Shikamaru couldn't help but think that anyone who was willing to marry Gaara was definitely an odd-ball. _'He's just too damn intimidating!'_

"No, she's only…jeez, how do I explain this? Okay, it's like this. To be Gaara's wife she has to prove she deserves that honor. It's an arranged marriage and under normal circumstances they'd be planning a wedding, but the council doesn't like her. They're making her go through a trial period to see if she can handle all this. They're really awful to her."

For a second both boys were quiet, thinking about what it would be like to have a formidable group of people like the council trying to make your life miserable.

"I feel bad for her, I had to report to them once for a mission, those guys are more troublesome than the girls I know, and that's saying something. Hey, what did you mean when you said it 

sometimes seems like she knows what you're thinking? She made a comment about Ino, but I know Ino's never been to Suna. Do you think maybe Temari told her?"

"I don't know, they do talk sometimes, but I wouldn't put it past Lien to just know. It's weird, like, she'll say something about a deep secret of yours that you know you've never told anyone, or she'll give you advice on something you were planning to do in private. She knows things." Kankuro shrugged his shoulders, "That or she is really good at spying."

"Hmm, how often is her advice good?"

"That's just it, it's always good."

………….

Tenten and Shikamaru said goodbye to the Sand Siblings and began to head back home just after noon, so the sun wouldn't be right over head. As they went through the gates Shikamaru looked back and saw Lien staring down at him from a window. She was smirking at him.

…………..

As night fell around them Shikamaru and Tenten stopped to set up camp. Both of them were quiet, but it had none of the angry tension that had surrounded them on the trip up. They were both lost in their thoughts. Tenten broke the silence first.

"How long do you think it will take us to get back to Konoha?"

"Provided we don't have any interruptions it should only take us about three days." Turning towards each other their eyes met and both glanced away quickly, blushing.

'_What is wrong with me?! Temari's right, I'm acting like I'm still in the Academy! I'm a kunoichi damn it! This has to stop!'_

Without giving herself a chance to chicken out Tenten got up and stomped over to where Shikamaru was. He turned towards her in surprise only to be yanked forward by the front of his shirt. He was about to protest when he felt Tenten press her lips against his.

Blank shock flashed across his mind. _'So much for seducing her.'_

He was so shocked he almost didn't respond. He felt her hesitate and begin to pull back. Roughly he threaded his fingers through her hair and pulled her tighter against him. His tongue poked at her lips asking for entrance. She complied.

After about two minutes of tongue wrestling the two broke apart, gasping for air. Glancing at her Shikamaru's gaze landed at her now slightly swollen lips. He couldn't believe that she'd just kissed him. He wanted to ask what had brought all this on but he couldn't quite remember how 

to talk. Ino's kisses had never done this to him, had never rendered his genius mind completely unable to think.

Tenten, meanwhile, was desperately trying to catch her breath. Part of her was worried about what Ino would do when she found out, but the other part couldn't care less; Temari was right, Ino was stringing Shikamaru along so that she'd never have to worry about being alone. For all her flirting and strutting around, few people actually knew how low Ino's self esteem was. She was a brilliant actress.

Tenten's attention was brought back to Shikamaru as he gently cupped her cheek in his hand. He brought her lips back to his for another kiss. This one was gentle: slow and romantic. Tenten lost herself in the feel of his lips against hers and the warmth of his body pressed against her.

This time when they parted neither was out of breath. They stared at each other with a mixture of shock, worry, and love. Now it was Shikamaru's turn to break the silence.

"I'm not letting you write this off as an accident." His voice was unusually firm. Tenten shook her head.

"What are we going to tell Ino?" Shikamaru pondered this for a minute, formulating a plan. Then he shrugged.

"We'll figure it out when we get there." He took her hand and led her back to their tent. As Tenten snuggled against Shikamaru's chest she realized that while she was with him it was impossible to feel jealous of anyone else. She was certain Neji could never be as sweet as he was.

……………

A/N: WOOHOO!! Another chapter done. By the way, before anyone asks, no this is not the last chapter. Okay, so that part about Lien was actually a reference to another story I'll be starting once this story is done. Lien is my OC and it will be about her and her struggle to prove herself worthy of being with Gaara, yeah. I really need some feedback on this story because I don't know if anyone is actually enjoying it. If no one reviews I have nothing to go off of and no reason to finish this story so: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW!!


	4. Confrontation

Disclaimer: For the last time…I DON'T OWN NARTUTO!! How many times do I have to say this?

A/N: Okay, I'm updating again…YAY!! Things are a little chaotic right now cause I'm in a new school and meeting new people, but I want to finish this story so I'm going to find time to update. I think there will be one, maybe two tops, chapters to go. **Also, this chapter is a little more mature. There is violence, swearing, and suggestive themes, if this bothers you just skip to the fighting and head towards the end of the chapter**. That said, thank you so much to the wonderful people who updated:

Sunlitsapphire, Safe Runner, and woohoo12. You guys are fantastic readers!! Cookies for all!! Now on with the story:

………………..

Shikamaru woke with a start. The air was cold and it was still dark out, something wasn't right. He took a second to check if Tenten had woken up and couldn't help the smile that crept up at the thought that she was his now. He silently groaned at how she affected him. He couldn't look at her without having thousands of overly-cliché, mushy thoughts race through his head.

Forcing himself to focus on the task at hand he carefully pulled himself from her arms and slid out of the sleeping bag. The cold air hit him like a smack to the face and he was instantly fully awake. He crept to the opening of the tent and slipped out into the black night.

He hardly had time to notice the kunai hurled at his head before he'd brought out his own on instinct to block. He jumped back and took in the situation. He was surrounded by three ninja dressed in black so as to blend into the dark around them. Two of them were men, both larger than him, and one was a girl who stayed a little ways back from the two men and surveyed Shikamaru with cold, calculating eyes.

Shikamaru hid his smirk; these ninja didn't realize that in the dark he had the advantage. There was no place for them to hide from his shadow possession jutsu.

Acting quickly he formed the hand signs and aimed his shadow at the woman. She didn't even realize he had attacked before she was caught and unable to move. She let out a surprised shout when she realized she couldn't move. As Shikamaru expected the two men went to see what was wrong.

The second they were within reach he sent two kunai at them, the woman being forced to do the same. The man on the left took Shikamaru's kunai in his arm, but the one on the right dodged both kunai and spun to meet Shikamaru's eyes.

"He's controlling me you idiots!" the woman hissed, "Don't just stand there and let him get away with this, attack!" Instantly the two men shot at Shikamaru. Outnumbered as he was he decided to attack the injured one first. Taking .35 seconds to come up with a plan he dodged their combined attack and shot behind the injured nin.

Mimicking his actions the woman leapt in front of him and took the punch meant for Shikamaru. She shrieked, distracting the man as Shikamaru pulled out another kunai and threw it expertly at the man's 

neck. He fell with a dull thud. Shikamaru then turned to face the last man. This one stayed a ways back from him, eyeing him suspiciously.

………………

Hearing the noise outside Tenten stirred out of her sleep. Coming awake instantly she quickly realized two things. One: Shikamaru was no longer beside her, and Two: The sounds outside were definitely those of a battle.

She sprang out of the sleeping bag, ignoring the shock from the cold air, and grabbed her weapons. She went to the door of the tent and peered out cautiously. It took a second for her eyes to adjust but when they did she just barely stifled her gasp at the scene in front of her.

Unfortunately she wasn't quiet enough as three sets of eyes abruptly turned to her. Shikamaru opened his mouth to tell her something but a second later a kunai hit him in the stomach and he crumpled to the ground.

Tenten felt anger well up in her as she watched Shikamaru collapse to the ground. The man and woman turned to her, both smirking smugly. Looking once more at Shikamaru, Tenten pulled two kunai out and expertly twirled them in her hands. _'They'll pay for that'_

Wasting no time Tenten leapt into the air and sent a barrage of poison-laced senbon at them. They both dodged and the man shot up to catch her leg as she came back down towards the ground. She winced as he squeezed and she felt something snap. He tossed her aside clearly uninterested.

"Let's hurry up and find the scrolls. I hate the desert." The woman called. She moved towards the tent only to be stopped by a katana placed at her neck. She looked at Tenten in surprise, then glanced over to where she'd been thrown. Instead of her body a scroll lay unfurled across the sand. She turned to glare furiously at Tenten. Tenten ignored her, looking back at the man.

"Drop all your weapons her I cut her throat." Tenten threatened, pressing the blade closer to the woman's skin so as to draw a thin line of blood. The man scrutinized her for a second before shrugging. He reached down and pulled out a handful of kunai.

In the blink of an eye he'd thrown them. Tenten was forced to drop the woman in order to avoid being hit but a kunai still managed to catch her in her thigh. A thud drew her attention to the woman, who now lay on the ground, blood seeping from the kunai in her back and staining the sand red.

"You killed your own partner?!" Tenten stared at him in shock.

"She was hindering my mission, she was expendable." His low voice was cold as ice and Tenten repressed the shudder that shot up her spine.

"What do you want?" His eyes shot into hers freezing her to the spot.

"I want the scrolls you're carrying. We know about the treaty attempt. It'd be a shame if Konoha failed to provide their side of the treaty." He smiled, which did nothing to help his looks, and took a step towards her, "It'd also be a shame if anything were to happen to such a pretty young girl, so hand over the scrolls and I'll be on my way." He stepped towards her again but Tenten stood her ground, crouching into a ready position.

"We don't have the scrolls anymore, they've already been delivered." She watched as his eyes narrowed in suspicion, then widened in realization. He let out a low, feral growl before he pounced, his hands clamping on her arms before she could jerk away. She thought back to the strength he'd used on her clone. Gritting her teeth she steeled herself, searching for a way to get free.

Without warning she felt his lips come down on hers and fought the urge to throw up. His lips forced hers open and his tongue shot into her mouth. Trying to calm herself down she thought back to everything she'd learned in that stupid self-defense class Sakura had made them all go to a few months ago.

'_Try to scream for help? Who the hell is going to hear me out in the desert? Punch low? No, he's got my arms. Drop my weight? Worth a shot'_

Maneuvering herself carefully she let all her weight drop. He grunted with surprise as her body dropped out of his arms. Once free she swept her leg out and caught him at the ankles. She reached for her dropped katana only to have her arm caught and pulled back.

He pulled her up, squeezing her arm when she tried to free herself.

"Listen you! I came all the way out here in the desert and lost two of my teammates only to find that you don't even have the scrolls? Well if I can't have the scrolls, then I'll have you." His hand came down, pinning her arms above her head. He positioned his legs to hold down the rest of her and let his hand wander down her side.

She bit her lip to hold back the scream building in her throat. Summoning all her strength she thrashed back and forth. Her captor grunted, grabbing her arm and squeezing.

"I'll stop squeezing when you stop struggling. You should be grateful, I can't think of a better way to die." He smirked cruelly. Tenten snarled at him.

"Go to hell!!" Before he could try anything else there was suddenly a shadow wrapped around him, holding him in place. Shikamaru had regained consciousness and had managed to prop himself up enough to perform the jutsu. Tenten took the chance, wrenching herself from his grasp she lunged for her katana and spun.

The blade stuck deep in his side and he keeled over. Tenten sat back on her knees, panting lightly. She couldn't believe what had almost happened. _'No, I can believe it, what I can't believe is that I almost let it happen.'_

Just then Shikamaru collapsed back against the ground. Gasping Tenten shot up and ran over to him. Shikamaru had already lost a lot of blood. Worrying her lip between her teeth Tenten ran back to the tent to grab the medical supplies. She winced as she reached with her left hand and realized he'd broken her wrist.

Pushing past the pain she grabbed some bandages and a disinfectant. Tenten was no healer; she knew she had to get Shikamaru back to Konoha as soon as possible. Working quickly she pulled his shirt away to reveal the wound.

She pulled back with a low hiss. The skin around the kunai was swelling and had turned a soft purplish shade.

"Poison! Fuck, I can't fix this!" Carefully she pulled the kunai free and wrapped the bandages around the wound to stop the bleeding. Once she was sure the bandage was tight enough she ran back to the tent. She grabbed her bag, throwing out the unnecessary things, and packed as much of his things as she could fit before pulling it over her shoulder and racing back out to Shikamaru.

Tenten took a deep breath and hefted him onto her back, ignoring the spasm of pain that shot through her wrist. Taking a deep breath she focused on summoning chakra to her feet and shot of into the night, her leader and lover unconscious on her back.

……………….

Kiba was bored. No, bored was understatement, Kiba was completely fed up. He hated getting stuck with border patrol. Nothing interesting ever happened beyond the usual waving in of everyday merchants and civilians.

He lay on his back, no longer paying attention, as Akamaru stretched restlessly beside him. Without warning Akamaru shot up, his ears perked and a low whine slipping from his throat. Kiba rolled on his side to look at him.

"What's wrong boy, what is it?" He looked towards forest bordering the village. "Is someone coming?"

Akamaru didn't answer. He raised his nose in the air, sniffing worriedly, before shooting off into the trees.

"Akamaru! Akamaru come back! …Shit." He pulled himself up and took off after Akamaru. He didn't have to go far before he found what had worried Akamaru. Leaning on a tree for support was a very ragged looking Tenten.

Her clothes were torn and dirty and her left wrist was swollen. Her hair, no longer in the traditional buns, was matted with blood and dirt. However it was not Tenten that caught Kiba's attention, but the boy slumped on her back.

Shikamaru was white with blood loss and poison. The blood from his wound had bled through Tenten's makeshift bandage and stained both their shirts, dripping down to the ground beneath him. Kiba cursed.

Tenten lifted her head at the sound and it was clear she was far beyond her limits. By all rights she shouldn't even be able to stand at this point.

As though that thought was all it took Tenten slumped to the ground in a dead faint. Kiba ran to inspect the two bodies. It was clear that Shikamaru was in the most danger so with a quick order to Akamaru to watch after Tenten Kiba shot off for the hospital.

Akamaru watched him leave, whining again as his master disappeared from sight. Once Kiba was gone he padded softly over to Tenten's unconscious form and curled up beside her.

…………….

When Tenten woke next it was in a very white room. Her first thought was that she'd overdone it again in training and Neji had brought her back to the Hyuga compound to rest. She was surprised when this thought didn't bring any of the joy she usually felt when the Hyuga did something nice for her and then everything came back in a whirl of images.

Without thinking she pushed herself up and let of a cry of surprise as her wrist throbbed in protest.

"You shouldn't do that Tenten, you've got a broken wrist, and you drained yourself of almost all your chakra. Tsunade-sama says it's lucky you didn't die from over-exertion." Tenten turned at the sound of the familiar voice. Lee was sitting next to her looking unusually somber as he peeled an orange for her.

"Lee, how long have I been here?!" She tried to steady the spinning in her head but nothing seemed to work. Lee stood and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"You've been here for three days. That's not so bad considering how severely you depleted your chakra levels."

"Wait, what about Shikamaru? Is he alright? The kunai…does Tsunade-sama know it was poisoned?! I tried, but I couldn't stay awake! I'm sorry, I meant to tell her, he needed help right away and I couldn't…!"

Lee watched as tears sprung to her eyes and sighed heavily, knowing those tears were not from a subordinate's natural concern for her team leader. Lee had seen Tenten and Shikamaru kiss at Sakura's party and he knew her well enough to see that, from her reaction, she really liked Shikamaru. He shook his head heavily. He wished he could protect her from the struggle she was going through but he knew there was nothing he could do.

"Shikamaru's fine, Tenten. He has to stay in the hospital under surveillance for awhile, but he'll be out soon."

"Can I…can I see him?" Lee scrutinized her for a second. Tenten wasn't looking at him. Her eyes were trained on her hands.

"I think so. He's out of any potential danger, so I'm sure they won't mind." Tenten did look up at him then, sending him a bright smile.

……………..

Lee had helped her to Shikamaru's room then left to give her some privacy. Tenten wondered again how much Lee knew or guessed about her relationship with Shikamaru, but any thoughts of Lee were quickly erased when she caught sight of Shikamaru.

Shikamaru was sitting up in bed in a pair of loose sweatpants. He looked perfectly fine, the dark shadows beneath his eyes and his slightly pale skin the only sign that he'd been poisoned. It wasn't how Shikamaru looked, however, that stopped her in her tracks, it was his eyes. Shikamaru was looking at her in a way that made her body feel like it was on fire.

"Shikamaru, I…um…you look better, I'm glad." She looked away, unnerved by his intense stare and even more unnerved by the fire it started in her.

Shikamaru didn't say anything, the only disturbance to the quiet being the soft creaking of the bed springs. When Tenten dared to look up again she nearly gasped in shock. Shikamaru had managed to get right in front of her without her noticing him.

He brought a hand up slowly to gently trace the shadows under her eyes.

"You look even worse than I do." He whispered, as though afraid to break the heavy silence in the room. "You should be resting; they told me what happened when I woke up." Shikamaru remembered all too clearly the shame he'd felt when he found out he'd been carried all the way back to Konoha by his exhausted female teammate. He felt that shame come back ten times stronger as he saw how haggard Tenten looked now.

"I'm fine, I just used a little more chakra than I expected." She tried to smile at him but found she was too tired to extend the effort. Shikamaru surveyed her a little longer before bringing the hand that'd been tracing her eyes down to cup her cheek. He leaned in slowly to press his lips against hers.

His kiss was feather soft and infinitely sweeter than any kiss Tenten had ever had before. She let herself rest her hands on his shoulder and relax into his kiss. A noise at the door shocked both of them into awareness. They sprang apart so that they were standing at a respectable distance from each other.

No sooner had they stepped apart than Ino Yamanaka came in the door. Upon seeing Shikamaru she let out a high pitched squeal and pulled him into a tight hug.

"Shika-kun! Sakura told me that you were awake so I came right away to see you." Only then did she notice Tenten. "Oh Tenten! You're up too! I'm so glad, we were all so worried about you two! My god Tenten, you look awful!" She gave Tenten a quick hug.

Tenten gave her a strained smiled and edged towards the door. She caught Shikamaru's eye but purposely ignored him.

"I'll just go and give you two some alone time." She said quietly as she headed towards the door. Ino seemed fine with this as she turned back to Shikamaru but stopped short at the stare he was giving Tenten. Ino knew that stare, she'd seen it in more than enough men directed at herself, but she'd never seen it in Shikamaru's eyes before.

"Wait Tenten." Shikamaru called softly. Tenten hand hesitated on the door handle.

"Shika-kun, Tenten-chan, what's going on here?" Ino's voice was strained. She wasn't stupid, she knew what had happened. She could tell just from the tension between the two of them.

"Nothing is going on Ino. I'll see you later. I'm glad you're feeling better Shikamaru-san." She went to leave but Shikamaru's voice cut through the awkward silence.

"Stop being so troublesome, Tenten. Stay for a sec. This involves you too." He turned to Ino and could see she knew what was about to happen. He took a breath, cursing how inevitable this conflict was. _'What a drag.'_ He met her eyes and sighed, "I'm sorry Ino, but I don't think we should continue seeing each other, we just aren't a good…" but Ino cut him off in a shrill voice filled with panic and anger.

"You're leaving me?! You're leaving me for Tenten?! How could you do this to me? What about loyalty? You cheating scum, I trusted you!" Tenten turned to her friend.

"Ino-chan please don't be angry with Shikamaru-san, he didn't cheat on you. I'm so, so sorry Ino-chan, if you need to be angry…"

"'Need to be angry?!' I can't believe this! I knew Shikamaru and I were having problems, but I never thought you would betray me Tenten! You're supposed to be my friend!"

"I am your friend Ino-chan! I just…"

"If you were my friend you wouldn't have gone behind my back and cheated with my boyfriend! I can't believe you two! You know what, you deserve each other: a cheating boyfriend and a traitorous best friend!"

"We didn't betray you Ino, but I love Tenten, so I can no longer be in a relationship with you. That would be cheating." Shikamaru reasoned. This argument was getting out of hand.

"You love her?" Ino was temporarily stumped. She hadn't thought Shikamaru had enough motivation to love anyone. "That's rich, that's really funny. You're angry with me, aren't you? This is a ploy to get me jealous, isn't it?!"

"No, Ino-chan! We never wanted to hurt you, but I love Shikamaru too! I'm so sorry!" Tenten reached out to her but she pulled back angrily and spun to take Tenten on.

"Oh don't you even start with that crap! You've been in love with Neji for as long as I've known you. You're stuck on him like a pathetic little fangirl. Don't use MY Shikamaru to get back at Neji! Though I'm not surprised you'd stoop that low. Apparently you have no qualms about taking other people's 

boyfriends! Is that what you want? To steal Neji from Sakura? You always were a pathetic, jealous bitch!" Ino spat the words at her and Tenten recoiled from Ino in shock.

Shikamaru had had enough. Watching as Tenten fought down the tears that threatened to come to her eyes he felt anger override his usually laid back personality.

"That's enough Ino! Enough of your stupid accusations! We tried to do the right thing by coming to you about this relationship instead of running around behind your back, but apparently that doesn't mean anything to you. Don't get all high and mighty with us Ino, I know of multiple times when you've cheated on me so don't even start with me! I love Tenten, and I won't let you get in between us because you need a safety net. I'M NOT YOUR TOY!"

Ino stumbled away from him, shock and pain registering in her eyes. She looked from Shikamaru to Tenten and back again. Then without a word she ran from the room. Tenten went to follow her but was stopped as Shikamaru wrapped his arms around her from behind.

"Let her go. She needs to calm down. She had no right to say what she did to you. You have nothing to apologize for, let her come to you." Tenten relaxed back into Shikamaru's grasp.

"I'm sorry. I know how much you hate situations like this." Shikamaru looked down at her fondly before resting his cheek against the top of her head.

"Yeah, that was way too troublesome." He sighed, closing his eyes, "but I think you might be worth it."

……………

A/N: Phew, that was a really long chapter for me! So there was some action, some romance, and some drama. I suck at writing fighting scenes, so I'm sorry if it wasn't all that interesting --;

I hope you like it anyway, there should only be one more chapter. Please **REVIEW**, I really need some feedback on this story. Constructive criticisms are more than welcome! Also, if you feel the need to flame my story, know that I will be laughing when I get your message. Flames are just so melodramatic!! Anyway, please **REVIEW** and stay tuned for the next chapter!


	5. Fin

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I never will…the repetitiveness of these disclaimers is really annoying!

-Firstly, as you may have noticed, I changed my name. What with the growing popularity of the Twighlight books I thought it didn't make sense for me to keep my name 'twighlight16' when I don't write Twighlight fanfiction. Please don't be confused, I'm still the same author. Secondly, I apologize about the long wait for the update, but I actually do have good reasons. First of all, I just had midterms (ohmygodohmygod!) and so I spent my time locked in my room studying…so…awful…Anyway, then the mother of a friend of mine passed away and there was the funeral and all that so it's been pretty chaotic around here. This chapter is dedicated to: **lovesrainscent** for leaving an awesome, long review. Alright, on with the story!

………………….

Ino ran from the room as fast as she could. All around her the hallway seemed to be surrounded in a red haze. _How dare they?! Shikamaru leave me for that slut?! Impossible! Nobody dumps me! They're going to pay for this; Tenten is going to pay for this!_

It took Ino very little time to decide exactly what she was going to do. Coming out of the hospital she made a sharp left and sped off to the Hyuga complex.

………………….

The next morning Tenten was at the training grounds waiting for Neji to arrive. She began tossing her kunai at the straw dummies set up around the training grounds but her heart just wasn't in it: Ino's pained look as she left the room had become a permanent fixture in her mind. Just as she decided to stop with the target practice Neji strode up.

"There you are Neji! What took you so long?" Tenten's breath caught in her throat at the glare on his usually flawless face. "Ne, Neji, what's wrong? Has something happened?"

"Tenten, we have to talk. Now." Tenten swallowed hard and nodded.

"Of course Neji, what's up?"

"You're in love with me." Tenten choked, sucking in a big gulp of air.

"What?! No, Neji that's not…" But Neji cut her off.

"I knew you had a crush on me, Tenten, but this time you've gone way too far."

"What? I'm not following Neji, what's got you so angry, and who told you I was in love with you?"

"It's not that you're in love with me Tenten! It's that I'm in a relationship with Sakura and you stole Ino's boyfriend to try and make me jealous! I expected better from you!" Tenten paled. Ino.

"Neji, I think I should explain…"

"No. Save your breath. I just came to tell you we won't be training together anymore." He turned to leave, "Oh, and you'll probably want to stay clear of the gang too, they really don't want to see you right now."

"STOP RIGHT THERE! I don't care if Ino's angry or hurt or confused or whatever. She's the one being the bad friend right now, not me! God, what a bitch!"

"Tenten!"

"No, shut up Neji! Just SHUT UP! I can't believe you would take Ino's word over mine! Me! The person who's trained with you for years now! You're an idiot, you know that! Screw you Hyuga Neji! Go to hell!"

"What? Tenten what…"

"I'll admit, I had a crush on you for a long time, and now I know that you knew all along. I guess you had fun fucking around with me, huh? Apparently I'm just too damn trusting!" Tenten's screams began echoing through the woods and reached the training grounds of team 8.

……………..

"What the hell is that?" Kiba and Akamaru both sniffed in the direction of team 13's training grounds. "Sounds like a fight."

"With t-team 13? Th-that would b-be N-neji-nisan and T-t-tenten-san." Hinata whispered.

"Oh! Bet I know what they're fighting about. Didja hear Hinata?"

"H-hear what?" The shy girl looked up at Kiba's sly, conspiratorial grin warily.

"Apparently Tenten stole Shikamaru from Ino in order to get Neji jealous. I never knew she had it in her!" Hinata looked confused.

"That d-doesn't sound like T-tenten-san…"

"Come on! Let's go check it out!"

"W-wait, Kiba-kun!"

…………………

Neji stared at Tenten in shock. She'd never yelled at him before, at least never like this. She was far beyond furious.

"And another thing, Neji! You can take you goddamn pride and go jump off a cliff! Yes, I used to be in love with you, but back then I was young and stupid!" _Well, not that long ago actually…_ Tenten mentally added.

"Tenten, I'm not following you, are you saying Ino lied to me? You didn't steal Shikamaru from her?" Tenten shot him a cold glare that rivaled even his own Hyuga glare.

"Alright Neji, you listen and you listen good. I didn't **steal** Shikamaru. Ino is being a bitch. She treated Shikamaru like crap and expected him to stay with her." Neji absently nodded, accepting that Ino had, in fact, been very unfair to Shikamaru in the past.

"Alright, I understand that, but where do you fit into this story?" Tenten sighed.

"It all started and Sakura's birthday party. I had a little too much to drink and happened to find Shikamaru. We got into a fight, ironically because I was defending Ino, and then…he…kissed me. I was drunk…" Tenten trailed off, remembering her argument with Shikamaru on their past mission, "but I liked it and so I kissed back."

"Hn." Tenten took this as Neji's way of saying "continue", so she did.

"The next day we were assigned to a mission to Sunagakure. Just the two of us, and at first I wouldn't even talk to him. But he saved me from a sand storm and I began to notice that he's actually really sweet once you get to know him…"

"…"

"So we made it to Suna and things were beyond tense between us and Temari told me to just go for it because Ino didn't deserve Shikamaru and then…on the way back Ikissedhimandhekissedmebackbutwedidn'tdoanythingelseandthenwewereattattackedandbothinjuredandIcariedhimhomeandwetoldInoaboutthewholesituationandshefreakedoutandranoffandobviouslytoldyouherbullshitstoryandthat'severything." Tenten was gasping for air by the end as Neji tried to make sense of what she had told him.

"So in other words, Ino's running around slandering your name and you are actually in a real relationship with Shikamaru?" Tenten nodded her head, still completely out of breath.

"Y-yeah." She whispered. Neji's hands fisted in annoyance.

"I'm going to go have a talk with Ino-san." He deadpanned. Tenten looked up at him in alarm.

"N-no! Leave Ino alone, Neji! I-if you w-want to help, go explain the real situation to people. I-I'm going to go talk to Shikamaru-kun." Neji nodded minutely and turned to leave.

…………………

"Can you believe this?! Ino lied about the whole thing!" Kiba and Akamaru both had their hackles raised in annoyance. "What a dirty thing to do to a friend!"

"S-she didn't com-completely l-l-lie Kiba-kun. Sh-she's just upset." Hinata defended quietly.

"Whatever. All I know is that everyone in Konoha right now thinks Tenten is a complete whore because of Ino. What do we do?"

"W-we do what Neji-nisan is doing, we g-go and t-t-tell people the t-truth." The two nodded at each other and took off in the direction of town.

……………..

Shikamaru was staring up at the clouds at his team's training grounds with an unusual look of confusion on his face. All day he had been followed by whispers and sympathetic looks.

"What the hell is going on…what could have possibly happened that would make everyone stare at me like that…?"

"Ino. Ino happened." Shikamaru looked up as the soft voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Tenten? What are you doing here? I thought you were training with Neji?" He pushed himself up so he could see her and quickly jumped up in shock. Tenten's hair looked as though it had been pulled out of its buns, her clothes were dirty and torn, and there was a large bruise forming on her shin. "What the hell happened?!"

"It was a rough walk over here. Apparently I'm now known as 'that bitchy whore who stole Ino's boyfriend'." Tenten slumped against the tree and looked up at Shikamaru who was now towering over her.

"Ino did this?! I had no idea she would go that far, it's not like she really liked me anyway. I can't believe people believe her."

"It's not that surprising, really. You said yourself that everyone knew I was in love with Neji. Ino said that I was using you to get Neji jealous, and isn't that what I thought you were using me for? It's really a clever plan." Shikamaru sat down next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"What do you want to do? I'm not sure my telling people Ino is lying would do any good at this point."

"Neji is going to do that, but the only way to really fix this is to get Ino to tell the truth."

"Well, good luck. Ino knows that if she tells the truth her own reputation will be the one ruined. Not to mention she's angry, and when she's angry she doesn't listen to reason." Tenten sighed.

"I know, but I'm not going to let her bully me. This crap has got to stop. And it's going to stop now." Tenten stood up, placing a kiss on Shikamaru's forehead, and started towards the town.

"Tenten, you probably shouldn't go through the town, Ino's avengers are still there you know."

Tenten threw him a wan smile before taking off into the trees.

…………….

Meanwhile, Sakura was pouring Ino a mug of hot chocolate to cheer her up. She was completely shaken that Tenten would do something so cruel to a friend, and to try and get Neji…

Sakura shuddered. No one knew but that had always been her worst fear. Neji and Tenten were close. Very close. She had always worried that Neji would leave her to go to his true love, like some cliché romance novel. She shook her head defiantly at the thought.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you Ino. It's just so unfair!" On the couch Ino let out a realistic sniffle.

"Don't worry about me, Sakura, worry about yourself. She's after Neji, you should really be with him." She blew her nose theatrically into a tissue.

"Don't be silly! Neji knows about her plan, thanks to you, he would never betray me like that."

"You can never be sure, I thought Shikamaru would never betray…" But Ino was cut off mid sentence by a loud banging on the door. Sakura jerked up and went to open answer it.

Standing on the doorstep was a very harassed looking Tenten. Sakura's spine stiffened and she gave her an icy stare.

"You aren't welcome here, Tenten. Go away." Tenten turned and gave her a ferocious glare that was so angry even Sakura, who had grown up with Sasuke's cruel glares, blanched and stepped back.

"Can it Sakura. I'm in no mood." Tenten pushed her way through the door and turned to face Ino who was now trying to shrink into the sofa. "You low-life, backstabbing, lying little bitch!" Sakura gaped.

"Tenten… I don't want you in my…" Ino started, but Tenten cut her off.

"No. You shut up you jealous little whore! We were good, we were nice, I never once said anything to hurt you, but you just had to go being a selfish bitch! What did you expect, that you could string Shikamaru along forever? When were you going to let him free, when you were at the altar with some other man?! Had you treated him fairly he never would have dumped you, you brought this on yourself!" Tenten was jerked back suddenly by a strong hand on her shoulder, and spun around to face a fuming Sakura.

Sakura didn't say anything, just pulled her fist back and sent it flying into Tenten's face. There was a sharp gasp and a crash as Tenten hit the wall.

"Leave Ino alone! None of this is her fault! How could you go and take her boyfriend when she's one of your closest friends?!" Tenten stood and brushed a trickle of blood from her mouth. Turning gave Sakura a blank stare.

"I didn't."

"What do you mean you didn't?! Are you or are you not with Shikamaru?"

"I am with Shikamaru."

"Then you stole him from Ino!"

"No, I didn't do anything with him. He made the decision to break up with Ino to go out with me. We didn't do anything before hand, Shikamaru never cheated on Ino." Sakura faltered. It made sense, after all Ino was known to be vengeful when insulted, and Shikamaru finally working up the guts to break up with her would be one hell of an insult.

"But you still broke up her relationship to break up my relationship with Neji! Are you really that jealous?!" Tenten gave her a sad smile.

"I was jealous, really jealous. I looked at you, Sakura, and saw everything I had ever wanted. You are the next Tsunade-sama, and you got Neji." Sakura sucked in a sharp breath. "You're pretty, strong, and successful. You're everything I thought I wanted, but I was wrong." Tenten looked down at her feet.

"Tenten, what…?" Tenten looked up at her with that same sad smile, and Sakura could see the tears threatening to spill over.

"I was very wrong. The people I thought I knew are different. People I counted as friends turned out to be untrustworthy, and the person I marked as lazy, turned out to be kind and sweet. Sakura, you can have Neji. I never would have tried to come between you, but I wouldn't want him now anyway. He's not trustworthy either, apparently."

Sakura stood gaping at her. A small whimper to their left reminded them of the other member of the room. Ino was sitting on the couch, curled in on herself and staring at Tenten with a mixture of fear and guilt. Tenten turned her blank stare at her.

"You don't have to be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you. Ino, we came to you so as to avoid hurting you. You know you didn't deserve Shikamaru, you cheated on him too many times for your relationship to work anymore." Tenten let out a tired sigh and tried her best to give Ino a smile. It came out more as a grimace. "Look, I'm not sure if we can ever be friends again after this, but if you explain the truth to the rest of the village, maybe we can try."

With that said Tenten turned and left out the still-open front door. Sakura looked between Ino and the door before heading back over to the sofa.

………….

The next morning Tenten avoided the town so as to dodge the angry villagers and set off for Shikamaru's training grounds. She found Shikamaru staring at the clouds under the same tree he had been the day before.

"Hey." she called as she dropped down next to him. He turned his head and gave her a small smile before going back to look at the clouds. They sat in quiet for awhile before Shikamaru spoke up.

"Ino visited last night." Tenten didn't look down from the clouds and Shikamaru couldn't help but smile at how calm she was.

"Really? What did she say?"

"She said she wanted to talk about why I chose you over her. It wasn't a very long conversation, and it probably wasn't very good for her self-esteem." Shikamaru chuckled a little at the memory," but she said she was sorry, and that she wanted to set things right in the village."

"I'm glad."

They sat in quiet a little longer before Shikamaru sat up and took her face in his hands. He turned her head gently to look at him and traced a finger down the large bruise on her cheek.

"It's nothing, it doesn't hurt…" Shikamaru cut her off by pressing his lips urgently, well, as urgently as the lazy boy was capable of, against her own. He pulled away for a second to let her breath before kissing her again.

This kiss was different, though still urgent, it was also soft and loving and Tenten lost herself in the feel of his lips. He prodded at her lips with his tongue and Tenten obligingly opened her mouth to deepen the kiss. Her hands pulled at his hair tie before sliding into his hair. Shikamaru shivered at the feel of her fingers raking across his scalp.

He pushed her gently so that she fell back on the grass with him hovering carefully over her, his body cradled intimately between her legs. Tilting his head at an angle he deepened the kiss further, allowing his tongue to explore every inch of her mouth.

A loud cough startled the couple apart and they turned their heads to find Sakura standing awkwardly at the edge of the training grounds. Tenten's face felt as though it had burst into flames and even Shikamaru had a splash of pink tinting his cheeks at their compromising position.

Casually as possible he rolled off her and sat up. Sakura smirked at them.

"Well, sorry to interrupt, but I brought something for Tenten." Tenten eyed her warily. And shifted so she could defend in case the younger girl decided to attack again.

"It's not poison or anything like that, is it?" Sakura's smirk turned into a bashful, half smile.

"No I…that is…I'm really sorry about yesterday, and I figured you'd probably have a pretty nasty bruise on your cheek, so I brought you some pain killers and some medication to quicken the healing." She held out a small, brown paper bag. Tenten gave her a small, rather unsure smile back and winced as her cheek throbbed.

Sakura but the bag down and took a step towards the trees.

"Well, that's all I came for, so I guess I'll be going then. Carry on!" Sakura turned on her heel and shot off towards town.

"Ugg, now we'll have more rumors to deal with." Tenten pushed herself up off the ground but was pulled back as a hand closed around her wrist. She fell sharply back into Shikamaru's lap. "Shikamaru, what are you doing?" Tenten asked, looking up at his face to try and gauge his expression. He gave her a devilish smirk.

"You heard the girl, she told us to 'carry on'."

…………..

A/N: Wow, I'm actually done. I can't believe it. This last chapter was so jam packed full of drama and angst! Jeez!! Anyway, I'll probably put up an epilogue, but as of now I will not be doing a sequel. Thank you so much for sticking with the story this long and not killing me for the long wait in between updates. As always I ask you to please **REVIEW** and constructive criticism is always welcome. Thanks again!


	6. Epilogue: the youthful green beast

Disclaimer: As always I do not own Naruto.

-Okay, so I was randomly going through reviews when I got the idea for this epilogue, as such, this epilogue is dedicated to lovesrainscent for giving me the idea. Lovesrainscent's review was about Lee and how it seemed like he'd been on the sidelines throughout Tenten's crush on Neji, and all of a sudden I had the idea that the epilogue should be from Lee's point of view!

Anyway, here's the epilogue for An Accident, hope you like it!

……………

**Lee's POV**

It's been a few weeks since the chaos from Shikamaru-san and Tenten's hooking up broke out, and things are finally beginning to return to normal. A lot of people are still in shock over the turn of events…well, actually, just about everyone but me, really.

I could have told everyone what was going to happen more or less the day before it happened. It all started at Sakura-chan's birthday party, and I was there to see it all begin:

Tenten was gorgeous that night; truly, youthfully, gorgeous. It's stupid that someone that beautiful and fun and smart was sitting alone at the bar watching her best friend and the boy she'd loved for years dance. It was painful to watch and I would have done anything, ANYTHING, to make that sad, wistful smile go away. You see, for as long as Tenten's been in love with Neji-kun, I've been in love with her.

I know what you're thinking: 'I thought Lee was in love with Sakura'. I was, it was hard not to be! Sakura-chan is beautiful, with her rose pink hair and emerald eyes. She's talented, intelligent, and successful. However, Sakura-chan was always in love with Sasuke-san. The more I was around Tenten, the more I realized that Sakura-chan, though beautiful, did not have the same youthful joy in her.

Tenten would laugh really loud at my jokes, or the things Gai-sensei and I would do; she never tried to hide her smile and NEVER giggled. She'd always stay and train with me for as long as her body could hold up, just so that I wouldn't be left alone. Most importantly, she cared about me in a way that was completely different from the way Sakura-chan did. Tenten treated me as a very important part of her world.

When Sakura-chan finally came to terms with the fact that Sasuke-san was gone, she became a little lost. She started dating a few random guys, even went on a date with me! She really pulled through because of Ino-chan, Hinata-chan, and Tenten. It was Tenten who first connected Sakura-chan and Neji-kun. It was awful watching Tenten fight her feelings to let her best friends be together and I'll admit, while I'm ashamed of it, that I took advantage of her struggle.

When Neji-kun and Sakura-chan began dating, I used the fact that everyone in Konoha believed me to be in love with Sakura-chan to get closer to Tenten. She believed we had a shared pain, and we become closer than ever.

We kissed once. We'd been out drinking (I wasn't allowed anything but water), but Tenten didn't acknowledge it as much. That's how I knew when I saw Shikamaru-san and Tenten kissing at Sakura-chan's birthday party that there was something real growing between the two.

I won't deny it hurt a lot to realize that Tenten had found someone else, but it gave me a better sense of what Tenten had gone through with Neji-kun. I realized then that no matter what happened, I had to help them get together.

It was clear, you see, that Tenten would never make a move to get Shikamaru-san so long as he and Ino-chan were dating. It was also obvious that Shikamaru-san needed more motivation to break off his dying relationship with Ino-chan. So, after seeing how shaken up Shikamaru-san was after the kiss, I paid a visit to Tsunade-sama.

The reason I knew about Tenten's upcoming mission to Sunagakure was because I was originally assigned to that mission with her. It was hard to tell Tsunade-sama that she should assign the mission to Shikamaru-san instead, knowing how dangerous this mission would be, but it had to be done. The only way those two would ever address the feelings they had was if they were put in extreme conditions alone together.

Of course, I had to make sure their stubbornness didn't get in the way, so I sent a message to Temari-san to inform her of the situation. I knew that Temari-san wouldn't let them leave without making sure she'd set something in motion.

I had not, however, planned on seeing them come home battered, bleeding, and on the verge of death. For the three days Tenten was unconscious I barely left her side, even after the nurses confirmed she was out of danger. I've never felt so guilty in my life! If I had been there I could have protected her! That guilt was like a knife, but it all disappeared when she sent me that smile. Did it hurt that she was smiling because I'd told her I'd take her to see Shikamaru-san? Of course, but she was happy and that made me happier than I really want to say.

I left to give them some privacy, and passed Ino-chan on the way out of the hospital. I could have told anyone that Shikamaru-san would address the problem immediately, it's one of the things I admire about him. I also could have told them that Ino-chan wouldn't accept the break up gracefully, she's far more insecure than she lets on. That said, I had no idea the lengths to which Ino-chan was willing to go for revenge!

I found out what she'd done when my morning exercises were interrupted by a furious Neji-kun. I knew it was going to be bad, but I greeted him in my usual, youthful way. Neji-kun barely acknowledged my greeting and, for the first time since I've known him, started a conversation with me of his own free will.

Needless to say I was shocked that Ino-chan would stoop so low…well, maybe I wasn't shocked by that, she'd always come off as somewhat cut-throat, but I was shocked that Neji-kun would believe her so readily! As far as I know his opinion of Ino-chan is fairly low. Neji-kun then proceeded to tell me all that Ino-chan had told him and would not, though I tried with every youthful fiber of my being, believe me when I told him she must be lying.

Neji-kun stormed off to confront Tenten and, though I wanted to protect her from the heartache she would surely feel, I decided my efforts would be better spent countering the rumors about Tenten. It was harder than I ever could have imagined to get people to listen to me! Everyone kept telling me that I was naïve. Only Naruto-kun really listened to me, which is probably due to the years he'd spent watching Sakura-chan and Ino-chan compete for Sasuke-san's affection.

It quickly became apparent that I wouldn't be able to fix this on my own so I decided to confront Ino-chan. On the way to Ino-chan's house I met Neji-kun and learned that Tenten had yelled at him. I can't tell you how proud I was of her! She was finally over Neji-kun and it was mostly thanks to Shikamaru-san. I was worried though; obviously Tenten was going to confront Ino-chan, and she would do so soon before she lost her nerve.

I hurried to Ino-chan's home and found the after-effects of Tenten's visit. Sakura-chan was there looking like she couldn't decide between being angry or guilty. Ino-chan was crying on the sofa. What really worried me was the evidence of someone hitting the wall hard; I figured that had to have been Tenten because even at her angriest Tenten wouldn't have attacked Ino-chan while she was this upset.

The girls clearly didn't expect me and Ino-chan instantly realized that I was 100% on Tenten's side. She started crying harder but I was too angry with her to really care all that much. Sakura-chan just looked guiltier, confirming my suspicions of who'd been sent to meet the wall. The conversation we had was one of the longest, and least pleasant I have ever had to have. I don't think anyone but Tenten really knew how serious I could be. I finally convinced Ino-chan that no matter what she did her reputation would be ruined, and that the best thing she could do now would be to fess up to the town about what she'd done. Ino-chan decided to talk to Shikamaru-san first and for the first time that day I actually began to feel sorry for her. It would take months, maybe years for her to recover her reputation, if she ever did.

I didn't have much left to say to Sakura-chan, apparently Tenten had given her a rather impressive speech already, so I decided that the last thing I needed to do was to check up on Tenten herself. I was surprised to find her at home, instead of with Shikamaru-san, but she explained that they both would need some time apart to deal with what Ino-chan had done. I was proud of her, and though I still had feelings for her, it felt good to be able to hold her as her best friend and let her cry. We stayed up late talking about what had happened and she eventually got me to confess that I'd known about her liking Shikamaru-san since I saw them kiss at the party. She hit me for that.

The next day Ino-chan confessed to lying about the whole thing and people came from left and right to apologize to Tenten. The only truly sad part is that I don't think Tenten will ever trust some of those people again. I know for a fact Neji-kun lost some of her friendship and will probably never be able to gain back the closeness they used to have. Somewhere deep down I feel that he deserves that, but that might be jealousy speaking.

Whatever happens now, Tenten is happy with Shikamaru-san, and she and I are as close friends as ever. Shikamaru-san, Choji-san, Naruto-kun, Hinata-chan, Tenten, and I have become an unusual group of friends, bonding over our similar trust in the two of them during all the chaos, but we make a youthful team.

I can see life being happy like this for a while…well, just so long as Shikamaru-san doesn't hurt Tenten, after all, I'm not know as the youthful green beast of Konoha for nothing.

…………

A/N: Okay, so that officially completes An Accident, I may or may not revisit this epilogue and edit it later. As always I'd greatly appreciate **REVIEWS**, especially because I want to know what you all think of the epilogue and if you think this is a good ending to the story. Definitely feel free to review with suggestions if you feel something can be improved.

This epilogue was both easy and difficult to write because Lee is usually such a happy character, but in the story I made him more sensible. It's weird to write a bitter Lee, but it was really fun to write about how he'd been the catalyst for everything. Anyway, please **review** with any comments or suggestions. I hope you enjoyed An Accident, thanks for reading!!


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